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27.More information
If a letter is a conversation between absentees, they are usually living. Linda Lê, however, writes letters to members of her family who are deceased (her father, who died alone in Vietnam – Lettre morte, Paris, Christian Bourgois, 1999) or who are forever confined to non-existence (her son – À l'enfant que je n'aurai pas, Paris, NiL, 2011). In 1999, she also published Tu écriras sur le Bonheur (Paris, Presses universitaires de France), thirty-eight texts dedicated to celebrated authors of various origins, sorts of “spiritual,” or literary, fathers. She repeats this manner of address in 2015 with Par ailleurs (exils) (Paris, Christian Bourgois), letters of homage to writers beyond the grave. It falls then to the reader to build connections between these writers and Linda Lê, between their finished works, passed down through generations, and her works in the making. This article identifies and examines the five “tutelary figures” they have in common, before pointing out which authors were missing and which were present in Par ailleurs (exils). While Tu écriras sur le bonheur was an alphabetical compilation, Par ailleurs (exils) is a suite of homages presented in no particular order; between the two the trace of Lê's work is discernable from “displaced literature” to a “literature of evasion.” I argue that it is the role of readers and critics, the ultimate recipients of her letters of homage, to receive them and to insure their author will be remembered for posterity.
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Keywords: esthétique, musique, politique, théâtre, théâtre musical, aesthetics, music, musical theater, politics, theater